John Brooks center chief to meet with Christie staff
ATLANTIC CITY - The head of the John Brooks Recovery Center, who against the backdrop of Gov. Christie's viral speech on drug addiction sounded an alarm that his center would have to close, says the governor's office has summoned him to Trenton for a meeting.
ATLANTIC CITY - The head of the John Brooks Recovery Center, who against the backdrop of Gov. Christie's viral speech on drug addiction sounded an alarm that his center would have to close, says the governor's office has summoned him to Trenton for a meeting.
Alan Oberman said he would meet with Deputy Chief of Staff Amy Cradic on Monday. He said Cradic contacted him after stories appeared about the plight of the 119-bed inpatient center.
"She called me saying the governor doesn't want to see us close," Oberman said Friday.
The inpatient center represents 10 percent of long-term beds in the state and is the only such facility in South Jersey, according to Oberman.
There has long been consensus that the center, on Pacific Avenue in the heart of Atlantic City's state-run Tourism District, would be better off in a different location.
The center agreed in July to sell its buildings to the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority for $4.1 million. The CRDA is kicking in $4 million more to relocate outpatient facilities to another location in Atlantic City and one in Pleasantville.
But the new inpatient building Oberman wants to build in an office park in Hamilton Township lacks funding. Oberman said he was unable to secure construction loans because the state's reimbursement rates for patients referred from drug court and elsewhere are too low at $68 a day.
Oberman said he would discuss with Cradic seeking early access to CRDA purchase funds to facilitate a $2 million construction loan. He said he was also seeking a $5 million grant from the state.
"I doubt everything will get concluded in one meeting," Oberman said.
He said that he received a great deal of support after the center's situation became public, and that various groups sent letters to the governor on his behalf.
"It definitely got their attention," Oberman said. "My hope is, now that the governor knows what's going on, he's going to fix it."
The governor's press office issued a lengthy response to Oberman's initial comments, saying it did not want to see the inpatient facility close but calling it "a business decision." It declined to comment on the reported meeting.
The governor's speech, in which he detailed the death of a friend from drug addiction, was recorded by the Huffington Post during a presidential campaign stop in New Hampshire. It had 8.3 million views as of Friday night.
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